That’s right, a new beer review tonight rather than a rerun. I found Bayern Oktoberfest Lager today and of course picked some up. Bayern Brewing, based in Montana, bills itself as "the only German microbrewery in the Rockies" and brews strictly according to the Reinheitsgebot.

Check out the beer’s pedigree, according to their site:

This beer is not just called Oktoberfest-it is Oktoberfest beer. It is brewed according to the standards of the Brewers’ Guild of Munich which was established when they brewed this beer for the first time in 1810, in Munich…

This "dark Marzen" has an alcohol by volume of 6% and is available from late August through late October.

Appearance: Dark brown color, relatively clear. Light tan head, but not very substantial. There are deep ruby highlights when held to the light.

Smell: Roasty, malty, some thick dark aromas, a hint of spice. Leather, licorice, brown sugar, spicy-earthy hops.

Taste: Dark, malty, roasted malts but not the burnt astringency you sometimes get. A bit of blackstrap and also some more lightly-toasted notes. Hoppy notes come through more in the aftertaste, along with some fruity-sweet malt flavors.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, pretty clean.

Overall: Pretty good, nicely malty, but reminds me more of a dark lager (Dunkel Lager) than a straight Oktoberfest.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B-. RateBeer, unfortunately, still has the "bad site" warning from Google, so I can’t point to them right now.